Kaede Kiseki
| image = | race = ( ) | birthday =May 25 | age =25 | gender =Female | height =180cm (5'11") | weight =69kg (152lb.) | blood type =AB | affiliation =Wandenreich | previous affiliation = | occupation = | epithet ="P" | military branch = Stern Ritter | partner =Haiiro Hoshi | previous partner | base of operations =Wandenreich HQ Maken Apartment Complex, Inaba City, , | relatives =Kabashiro Kiseki (Father) Kirari Kiseki (Mother) | education = University Level | spirit weapon =Kosen no Mushū Kahen | signature skill =Shapeshifting | story debut = | roleplay debut = | japanese voice = | english voice = }} Kaede Kiseki (奇跡楓, Kiseki Kaede) is an and member of the Wandenreich. She is designated as "P'" — "'The Polymorph". She hails from Inaba city in of , . Her partner is Haiiro Hoshi, a fellow Quincy that she has known since childhood. Appearance Kaede is a young woman of Japanese descent that is taller than most of her peers with an athlete's physique; properly toned with clear muscle and fat distribution for her weight class. She has black hair with red dyed tips that reaches as far as her neck, it naturally frames the sides of her face and curves into frills at the ends. Her eyebrows are thin and slightly curved, immaculately groomed at all times, her eyes are amber in colour and rather sharply angled in shape. She has a small nose that curves sharply as it nears the end, she has thin nostrils that look almost like thin cuts. She has small lips that naturally appear pursed often covered by a light gloss that accents their natural redness with shine. She wears a highly customized variation of the uniform that consists of a white cap with a black peak, an extremely long white scarf that wraps around her shoulders twice with each end hanging down from behind either of her shoulders, the left end is emblazoned with the Wandenreich symbol. An article of clothing she shares with her partner. Instead of the typical trench coat, Kaede wears a white leather jacket with removed sleeves and a raised collar. A simple black half cut t-shirt is worn beneath, protecting her modesty though leaving her midriff exposed. Her forearms are covered by a pair of white sweatbands, a rests on her left hand, black in colour, it covers the majority of her hand though leaves the index and middle fingers as well as the thumb exposed, it also appears to open up at the center of the palm. A belt wraps around her waist, looping around twice and hanging down at an angle towards the left, her assorted and a pouch containing tubes are attached to them. Her legs are covered by plain white trousers and sleek, black combat boots. Personality Described as being wise beyond her years for much of her younger life, Kaede pushes forward on being a generally mature and grown up young woman. She acts with proper manners and terms of respect as noted by whatever relationship she has with the people around her, the only exception being that of Haiiro Hoshi whom she speaks to on a first name basis and without the use of honourifics. Whilst genuinely polite on a basic level and more than capable of being able to tell when someone is winding her up, she nonetheless suffers from a very short temper and can quickly lose her cool in a matter of seconds at the slightest annoyance. Often times at Haiiro's expense when she takes out her frustrations on him with physical force. In fact she carries around a lengthy line gauge just for the effort of punishing those that offend her sensibilities for long enough, she affectionately refers to this particular punishment aid as Batsu-san (罰さん, Mr. Punishment). Kaede is a to a rather obsessive degree, in her eyes everything has to stand up to a perfect standard, anything falling even the slightest touch short is a failure, plain and simple. Her streak is extremely excessive, spending three hours every morning making sure she has everything she needs in perfect order seems completely normal to her but crazy to most others. Her perfectionism pervades much of her daily life and is even present in her duties as a . Her uniforms are always immaculate, the store where she works gleams with cleanliness and every shelf is stacked in some kind of order or another that differs from aisle to aisle. She sometimes dips into the maladaptive side, setting herself up for lofty goals that are more or less physically impossible even for someone as spiritually powerful as herself. Depression is quick to set in when she realizes this which leaves her at her most vulnerable until she comes to grips with the situation and moves on, its at these times that her relationship with Haiiro takes a less one-sided twist as she often relies on him more heavily in the interim. In spite of her obsession with perfection in everything and her hair trigger temper Kaede is actually rather casual normally, whilst she refers to those around her with respectful terms, the rest of her speech is laced with flippancy or a lack of seriousness. She prefers to be on a friendly basis with almost everyone she meets, this is perhaps an attempt to rail against the rather fearsome reputation she has obtained around Inaba as the "Chishima Enken" (怨魂血縞, Blood-Streak Fiend), a result of her abusive tendencies towards Haiiro and others at times, bringing up the name within earshot of her is an even quicker way to make her blow a fuse however. Though she is generally energetic, she is quick to fall into boredom when in areas of relative static or where there is little for her to actually occupy herself with. Most notable is when she is working, when the store falls into a lull she herself becomes rather grey and dull, even speaking in depressive tones. Outside of work, it is easy to tell when she's bored as she takes to messing with Haiiro's hair, often trying to form the spikes on his fringe into the shape of a star, much to his vexation. In combat she is far more reserved, reacting calmly to whatever situations might arise during a battle. She prefers to take step lightly and pay heed to every motion that goes on, reacting step by step to a field that is ever changing, though she is terribly lacking in foresight as a result and often times forgets that those not physically present on the battlefield can affect it regardless. She is very much a ranged combatant, preferring to make use of her mastery in spells and the great range afforded by her Spirit Weapon. By default she acts as the support to Haiiro's primary, boxing in opponents or making it difficult to hamper him by raining down Heilig Pfeil if not a barrage of Gintō. Using her unique ability she can draw herself into a more front line position, transforming into various tools and weapons for her partner to use. Though she is capable of great versatility at close range, she ultimately despises being close to her opponents which can cause her to act frantically when the gap is closed if she has little warning preceeding it. In addition, while it appears muted for the most part, her hair trigger temper remains exclusively in reaction to whenever Haiiro does something deserving of her (easily earned) ire. Unlike her casual self, she isn't prone to hiting her partner instead she simply fumes in place, stomping around and causing a scene, to the confusion of both Haiiro and her opponents. She has a deathly fear of , often mentally locking up at the mere sight of it if not irrationally freaking out, though she sees thankfuly little of it as a result of spiritual attacks being more akin to burning and bruises than cuts or scars. Kaede is an avid swimmer, which she says is how her hair ended up naturally frilling up as it has. She has an early morning routine that she rarely deviates from, consisting of whatever preparations she specifically needs each day as well a constant morning jog, included among these duties is to wake up Haiiro earlier than he would naturally, usually with the aid of an alarm clock, or several. She is a skilled cook though she has a nasty habit of experimenting with the meals she makes to disasterous effect. She loves , often eating more than a dozen in one sitting if given the chance, though her favourite dish happens to be which she makes a habit of having at least once a week. Other than swimming, she is a fan of general travel and uses her duties under the Wandenreich as an excuse to visit places that she otherwise wouldn't. One of her dreams is to drag Haiiro on a round trip across the world. She also has a secret guilty pleasure in enjoying series. When writing she signs her name in a manner similiar to her partner, written as "Kiseki◎Kaede". History Kaede was born some twenty five years ago into the Kiseki family, a clan of with widespread influence through Inaba city. Though they respected and followed the traditions of their people, they preferred to remain a neutral party overall and so remained unconnected with the Wandenreich. Amongst other things such as a vast knowledge of and control over , that was unique to the clan, they also held the maintenance of a pureblooded lineage as a priority. To this end, they made a habit of meeting with other Quincy clans through out Japan in order to strengthen relationships. This would include the Hoshi family, another group of Quincy that lived within Inaba and regularly met with the Kiseki household. Kaede had her first run in with the family at the age of six when she encountered Haiiro Hoshi being picked on by a group of bullies. Being as boisterious as she was, Kaede attacked and chased them away. The two introduced themselves before Haiiro's mother, distraught at having him go missing temporarily, scolded and took him away. They would meet again not long after at a meeting of the two families, upon recognizing each other they decided to become friends. Much to the delight of both families, who had professed an interest in an arranged marriage in the near future. During this time Kaede grew close to her father, Kabashiro, through a joint love of both swimming and jogging, only for her father to disappear suddenly coinciding with the disappearance of Haiiro's mother. Unbeknownst to the two their parents had joined the Wandenreich, an act that had the Kiseki's disowning Kabashiro. As was traditional within the family, Kaede was to be trained as a Quincy, with a priority on developing her spiritual control and master over the Quincy art of spell casting known as Gintō. She started at age eight, and could already form the basic Spirit Weapon, Kojaku (弧雀, Arc Sparrow) before even a year had passed. Her training under her family was cut short a few years later when she returned home one day to find the family compound devastated, the entirety of her family slaughtered at the hands of an unknown assailant. Though she never saw the assailant, she had felt a -like Reiatsu moments before arriving home. Though it would prove little in the way of help due to the pervasive nature of Hollows across other beings such as , and even . Nonetheless the trauma of seeing every part of her family decimated led to her developing an extreme fear of blood as well as a subtle but blooming hatred for most if not all spiritual beings. The aftermath of the attack affected Haiiro as well, distraught at his friend's depression he created the mask of a constantly positive personality in order to cheer her up to varying degrees of success. Though she ultimately declined an offer to stay with the Hoshi household, she accepts the support they provided her during her return to her own home. She would continue training in the Quincy arts using the knowledge and equipment that her family had stockpiled over the years in addition to rigorous training with Haiiro. Together they took up the role as Inaba city's protectors, slaying Hollows when they became aware of them and scaring off whatever Shinigami was assigned to the area. They even had enough time to graduate highschool, in spite of frequent absences and "anti-social" personalities as deemed by the school they attended. Life continued, with the pair of Quincies enrolling in university. In the proceeding years they found themselves approached by Roshan Bamshad, an emissary from the Wandenreich who informed the duo that their parents had joined the organization and were subsequently killed in battle. He offered them a chance to join the group if they were willing to go through an initiation test, eager to prove their mettle, the duo accepted. They were transported to for the duration of the exercise where they were pitted against Hollows of varying class, by accident they happened to run afoul of the greatest of the lifeless realm's denizens; a Vasto Lorde. While the duo were ultimately incapable of defeating the powerful Hollow, the fact that they could fight it to a stand-still let alone withstand its massive spiritual pressure was a testament to their potential. Deciding to interfere in the events, Roshan assisted in besting the Vasto Lorde. Once he had gotten the drop on the creature, he held him at point blank but allowed his Spirit Weapon to dissipate in response to the beast's demand that he simply kill him without wasting time, Roshan would cite that he was simply an observer before Haiiro and Kaede struck suddenly with a pair of Seele Schneider each, severing several vital areas at once. With the Persian Quincy's recommendation, the pair were entered into Wandenreich as Soldat (聖兵 (ゾルダート), zorudāto; German for "Soldier", Japanese for "Holy Soldier(s)"). This created a struggle between their duties with the organization and their roles as students in the , forcing the pair to eventually drop out as a result of a low tolerance policy and their loyalty to their joint heritage coming first. After proving themselves a cut above the rest, and over a few years of service, the two were enrolled into the elite forces of the Wandenreich, the Stern Ritter. Kaede was granted the epithet "P'" — "'The Polymorph" in contrast to her father who had been known under "T'" — "'The ", her partner Haiiro, was known as "U'" — "'The Underworld" as well. Equipment Quincy Cross: A symbol that sets each Quincy apart, as well as the source of their powers. It is believed to grow in power alongside its wielder, possibly even changing in shape to reflect that growth. Kaede's cross closely resembles a with eight points extending from the center, all four at the diagonal points turning into crosses at the end. The Northern most arm is used as the top and is attached to a chain that wraps around Kaede's wrist on her right arm. Seele Schneider: (魂を切り裂くもの (ゼーレシュナイダー), Zēreshunaidā; German for "Soul Cutter", Japanese for "That Which Slits the Soul"): A thin silver-coloured tool with a small rectangular hook on the bottom, large enough to fit a single finger, is a weapon used by the Quincy that bears great resemblance to a sword when activated, in particular by generating a beam of spiritual energy that takes the shape of a blade, but is in fact a very powerful arrow. The Reishi that makes up the glowing blue blade of a Seele Schneider travel at an amazing speed, making three million round trips across the edge per second. The vibrations generated by this are not only meant for cutting, but also to weaken the bonds between the spiritual energy of whatever it happens to cut thus making them easier for a Quincy to capture. A battle for the Quincy is one of gathering surrounding Reishi to use as a weapon making the Seele Schneider the most potent manifestation to this principle. Its functionality as a spiritual weapon makes it better against those who are physically powerful as spiritual impact will always over power a physical impact of equal strength. Though she carries a staggering twelve Seele Schneiders, Kaede is not a melee fighter, and has her unique abilities in shapeshifting to fall back on in the event that she does end up close to an opponent, she does not use them for close ranged combat instead keeping them exclusively for use in her Gintō spells or as backups should Haiiro lose his in the frey. Bankai Stealing Medallion: A seal that takes the form of a simple badge, developed by the Wandenreich as a way to counteract the ultimate weapon of any Shinigami. On average they are believed to be able to capture any that emits a spiritual wavelength above a certain point. The lower that wavelength, the more difficult it is to capture the weapon. In addition to the requirement of a high enough spiritual signature, those who had achieved Bankai Mastery or had an otherwise perfect bond with their were incapable of having their Bankai stolen. As a member of the Stern Ritter, Kaede carries one of these Medallions, but has yet to make use of its power on account of having met no Shinigami capable of using Bankai. : A simple looking but otherwise powerful piece of Quincy equipment, the Sanrei Glove is the gateway to the ultimate abilities that they can acquire, namely the and the . Naturally the Sanrei Glove repels making it far more difficult for Quincy to form their signature whilst it is worn, this is part of a week long training sessions where the Quincy has to not only keep their Spirit Weapon formed for the entire period but also fire Heilig Pfeil as often as possible during that same period. If successfully completed, the Quincy gain the potential to further increase their power to a greater degree. Kaede wears hers on her left hand and does not typically use it form the Sanrei Bow, as her own Spirit Weapon, Kosen no Mushū Kahen surpasses it in general overall strength. Powers & Abilities Statistics Trivia *Kaede Kiseki can be translated as "Maple Marvel", making both her name and its translation alliterative. *Kaede is partially based upon Tsubaki Nakatsukasa from , both of whom are characters capable of transforming into a variety of weapons or tools. This is also reflected in her partnership with Haiiro Hoshi, similiarly based on Black☆Star from the same series. *Kaede's birthday of May 25th is the same date as , a day where participants carry around a towel in tribute to and his book . It also marks her as a . *In Japanese, Kaede would refer to herself with the atashi (あたし) pronoun, which is informal in nature and often considered cute in Japan. *The colour associated with Kaede is Amber, a shade of orange which, within Japanese colour culture, represents energy, warmth, flamboyance, and balance. *Kaede's Vollständig is named after , or Tâmîêl, a fallen angel and the fifth mentioned of 20 in the . His name translates to "God is Perfect" or "Perfection of God". *While Inaba city doesn't actually exist, , where Kaede hails from, contains what was formerly known as , this is intended as a rather backhanded reference to as Inaba city is the primary setting of the game. *The "team theme" for Haiiro and Kaede, as chosen by their authors is Ihojin no Yaiba from the OST. A secondary theme serves as a cue for when they perform some incredible action or the success of a strategy takes place, that theme is Never Lose Myself from the OST. In the event of Kaede's death, the author imagines that Deai would be played. References Category:Characters Category:Female Category:Quincy Category:Stern Ritter Category:Master Archers Category:Gintō Masters Category:Hirenkyaku Experts Category:Wandenreich